Wednesday, December 30, 2015

SuperPhillip Central Best of 2015 Awards - Top Five Biggest Disappointments

So much of the world of video games, especially online, is so negative and full of complaints. I've changed my tune on how I want SuperPhillip Central to paint the industry, so I've been doing more positive articles than ones where I complain. However, I'll set that aside for just one night for my annual tradition of picking out a handful of disappointments of the year. These can be games, events, lineups, and other things of that nature. Everything here is just my opinion, so if you disagree with any pick, just realize that nothing I say is anything but subjective and my own personal thoughts. With that, let's see what disappointed me most in 2015.

5) Sony's 2015 PlayStation 4 Lineup

Bloodborne is seemingly a really tremendous game, and it released early in 2015. There is also the brilliant Until Dawn to enjoy. However, other than that, disappointments like The Order: 1886 and sales disappointments like Tearaway: Unfolded were what PlayStation 4 owners were left with this year. It doesn't really matter to those who own PS4s, as third parties definitely picked up the slack, but as someone who is still waiting to dive in to the platform and loves Sony's first party games, there was no real reason to pick up a PS4 this year, in my opinion. That said, Sony doesn't really need to release games, as the PS4 will sell no matter what it seems. However, next year is already exciting to me, with games like Uncharted 4 and Ratchet & Clank. While 2015 wasn't the PS4's year to me, personally, the future looks really bright for the platform.

4) Devil's Third (Wii U)

Tomonobu Itagaki moved on from Tecmo and Team Ninja and formed Valhalla Game Studios. The studio's first project was Devil's Third, a game that saw many development issues, originally being a THQ property for the publisher went under. Nintendo ended up with the game to add to the Wii U's lineup of action games, and the wait for the release of Devil's Third, decidedly, was totally not worth it. Devil's Third is a collection of poorly designed missions ruined further by a clunky control scheme. Previews raked the game over the coals, and the reviews obviously didn't turn out well. It's a total shame and a big disappointment that Devil's Third turned out to be a turd of a game.

3) The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes (3DS)

As someone whose favorite video game franchise is The Legend of Zelda, it hurts to type up this entry for the Top Five Biggest Disappointments of 2015. While The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes is by no means a bad game, it's a mighty frustrating one. There is trying to playing the game with randoms, and being stuck with idiotic teammates who quickly foil any plans for fun you might have wanted. The single player isn't as bad as I was led to believe, but it gets incredibly challenging, and not in an enjoyable way, to micromanage three separate Links. This is particularly difficult when anything involving balancing platforms that tip over with too much weight on them comes into play. The level design is quite good, so is the humor, music, and presentation. It's just the frustration from playing the game was sometimes just not worth it.

2) Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival (Wii U)

This next disappointment feels like abhorrent example of Nintendo pushing amiibo before gameplay first. What you have with Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival is a recipe for boredom, with a slow moving board game that delivers as many thrills and excitement as a piece of cardboard. Sure, the amiibo themselves look cute and are detailed well, but the actual game they're attached to is merely a ploy to get money from Nintendo. Obviously even great games are ploys to get money from companies, but this game just took it to pathetic and pitiful extremes.

1) Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash (Wii U)

The number one biggest disappointment hurt bad as someone who really enjoys Mario sports games. While the tennis gameplay is some of the Mario Tennis franchise's best ever, the egregious lack of content is utterly absurd. Online doesn't allow you to play against other people on your Wii U friends list, there is but one stadium total, there is only one real single player mode, and there is no real motivator to keep playing after everything has been unlocked (which just took me about five hours total to do). Again, the actual tennis is fantastic, but everything else shows that Nintendo rushed this game out just to have something for Wii U owners instead of Star Fox Zero, which was unfortunately delayed to 2016.